So you’ve read all the basic advice about how to throw darts, now let’s look at a few hacks that can help you on your way to improving your dart game.
Table of Contents
Try These 5 Hacks to Improve
1. Play Against People Who Are Better Than You
This tip is certainly not unique to darts, in fact, it’s a proven way in most sports to improve. However, the close proximity of you to your opponent means there’s a lot you can easily absorb by watching your skilled opponent.
Questions to ask yourself when watching a good darts player:
- What is their stance like? Would that work for me?
- How are they holding the dart? Could I try to alter my grip and emulate theirs?
- Look at what the rest of their body is doing when they throw
- Focus in on their throwing action and look at the arm movement.
- Ask them to vocalize where they are aiming for with each shot – if you are not sure why, ask. This will help you get familiar with their strategy.
2. Watch Darts Matches on TV or Online
This will let you closely look at different professional-level players’ techniques and how they are successful with them. Apply all of the same questions above when you are watching pro darts players.
3. Perfect Your Position at Oche
Most people when addressing the throw line or oche will head directly for the middle. However, many darts players find that their ideal position is not in the middle.
Take some time to test where your best position is. Throw 100 darts from the left, 100 from the middle and 100 from the right. Keep track of your scores and add them all up to determine which is your most successful position at the oche – then use it when you play, always sticking to your position.
Remember that there are variants within these positions. For eg you might find that after this test, you scored about the same from the middle and from the left. Try 100 darts from just left of the middle and see how you get on.
4. Experiment With Different Shaft Lengths And Flight Types
Darts can be dismantled and you can essentially build a dart that is exactly the way you want it. From different shaped flights to heavier darts to more expensive flights, there are many ways to alter your darts and you may find that they work better for you.
Also, if you are using steel tip darts, don’t forget they will need a sharpen from time to time, especially if they have been hitting ‘non-dartboard’ surfaces often.
5. Calm Your Mind
Being able to stay calm and focussed when playing darts competitively is hugely important. If you think about what your body does when it’s excited or anxious – we release adrenaline. Too much adrenaline and your body doesn’t function too well, particularly with fine motor control.
When you practice darts, enjoy the peace and quiet of the activity. By focussing on what you are doing, you can let the rest of the world slip away and enjoy the activity mindfully as you play. Use all your senses. Listen to the sounds the dart makes as it strikes the board. Enjoy it. Then when in a competitive darts environment, remember those thoughts and focus on them before you play.
If you sometimes get frustrated or angry don’t worry, it’s completely normal. Darts is a simple game and it’s easy to confuse that with being easy. It’s not. The level and precision and consistency to play professionally at darts is extremely high. Don’t beat yourself up. Focus on enjoying the game and getting better. Remember that for every bad dart you throw, you are failing in order to get better. That bad throw can give you a lot of information about how to improve – but only if you are paying attention.
Learn about calculating MPR and ow it can help track your progress.
Final Thoughts
Some people will be fortunate that with just a little practice they can become really quite good at darts. However, for the rest of us, the best way to get better at darts is to practice.
How many darts does it take for you to significantly improve your darts game? That question is impossible to answer as it’ll be different for everyone, but the more you throw, the better you’ll get. We hope you benefit from these tips and let us know if they helped improve your darts game.
Alex Cooper is the editor of this website. He loves darts and helping people. Alex started playing darts at the young age of 10, as his father was also a keen darts player, and has loved it ever since. Alex enjoys writing about darts and helping others learn more about the sport.
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